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Grit, Guts and Glory On Display at Adelaide Equestrian Festival CCI5*

By on May 7, 2025 9:00 am -

Photo by Atalya Boytner.

EN roving reporter and photographer Atalya Boytner made a special trip to the southern hemisphere to experience eventing in Australia. The Adelaide Equestrian Festival hosts an annual CCI5* alongside other international competitions, and it’s a spectacle we’ve always wanted to see for ourselves. Through Atalya’s eyes, let’s dive in to an incredible weekend of horse sport “down under.”

The Setting

David Middleton and WEC In the Money. Photo by Atalya Boytner.

First impressions of Adelaide:

Walkable. Accessible. Beautiful.

I don’t know what I expected from a competition that makes its calling card about their location in the middle of a city but in my experience with equestrian events, “middle of a city” is a generous term. 

Not so here.

The Adelaide Park Lands, a National Heritage site, cover about 932 hectacres (that’s a whooping 2303 acres) and provides dog parks, exercise structures, barbeque areas, running trails, cycling trails, horse racing, and what I think looks like a car race track to the populace of the City of Adelaide. While the cross country course winds its way through much of the Park Lands, the main arena and all the associated infrastructure takes place in Victoria Park, also known as Pakapakanthi in language of the Kuarna people. 

It’s about a 30-minute walk from downtown Adelaide, also known as the CBD – Central Business District but it’s more fun if you don’t know that. Or 10 minutes from the east end of Adelaide. Myself and my roller bag of chock-full camera gear along with a backpack of necessary snacks, extra batteries, and water conquered the walk twice a day passing Bauhus-like fire stations, glass box office buildings, art deco shops and galleries, and many, many stone churches. A city of festivals and food, there’s a Tasting Australia event that I walk through every day to get to the Adelaide Equestrian Festival. I pass Greek restaurants, every kind of Asian restaurant you could dream up, Italian, French, and delicious coffee on almost every corner. A footy game (based on excited Australian explanations to the ignorant American, it sounds like a mix between soccer, football, and rugby with a dash of cricket) came to town Saturday night which started plenty of time after the eventing finished for a leisurely stroll over to the stadium, 20 min from Victoria Park. 

City scenes are visible throughout the Adelaide venue. Photo by Atalya Boytner.

All this to say, heart of the city is not just a saying. It’s fact.

You would be forgiven for thinking this means being physically fit and able. You would be incorrect. 

In one week of being in Adelaide, I have seen more wheelchair bound individuals then I have seen in an entire month in the US. They are often solo, living life as independent and able members of society, going grocery shopping in the market I have been frequenting for my morning caffeine fix or simply enjoying a nice time with friends. Businesses have clear accessible routes marked, the public streets are designed without steps everywhere, and no one bats an eye, just simply make room on the sidewalk. Even on cross country day at the equestrian festival, I had to weave and work around many different people with wheelchairs. It is an event truly open to all who wish to come.

One of two road crossings that make Adelaide truly unique in its placement within the heart of the city. Photo by Atalya Boytner.

For a Californian, the landscape of Adelaide feels like home. Rolling sandy hills, eucalyptus trees everywhere, and a lovely soft sun to light everything. But there is history here too.

The Heritage Grand Stand is equal in grandeur and presence to the iconic palaces and country homes we see in the UK and is as integral to a vision of Adelaide as the Rolex Stadium in Kentucky. Built in the 1880s, its cast iron lacework filigree and blue stone base makes for a beautiful backdrop to the jogs, dressage, and show jumping phases. The English and German influence in the Adelaide city architecture makes its mark in the equestrian events too with its fun and playful style of marrying the old history with new design.

That playful style made its way onto the cross country at Adelaide, whose design from the outside may not seem as intimidating as the other 5* events across the globe. The fences themselves are all portable though they do not look it. Big tables, huge open corners that caused grief all over the course, lots of brush, and one fence that stands out from all the rest.

Muralist, activist, and artist-in-residence Matt Wiley puts the finishing touches on one of the artful masterpieces on the cross country course. Photo by Atalya Boytner.

Photo by Atalya Boytner.

Fence 24, the Beehives, was a straightforward galloping table for the horses and riders to navigate but its decoration sparked interest. Decorated with four pillars, two on each side that would later become show jumping standards, they were inspired by Adelaide architecture with mock stone edging and trim along their roof line. Each side of the pillar was hand painted by muralist, activist, and artist-in-residence Matt Wiley as part of his “The Good of the Hive” project. 

“I really look for projects that bring two things that you wouldn’t think of together because my work is about creating curiosity around the bees,” he explained. “When somebody says, why bees at as a jump? Immediately they’re in the state of mind that I want. Because when people are questioning, that’s when they’re open to learning something. I’ve been hearing [here at Adelaide Equestrian Festival] about the way that people work with their horses. You’re listening to your horse. How you nurture that relationship with the horse really got me thinking about, how do we nurture our relationships with pollinators? How are we thinking about taking care of them and listening to what they need?”

The structure of the jump was all Mike Etherington-Smith, the course designer at Adelaide, and his team of builders but Matt made sure to speak with them about the design he would paint on the face.

“I’d never done a jump, I had a lot of questions about it! Are the bees that I paint going to freak out the horses? I wanted to use black, because of the contrast with the grass and the colors. But I [didn’t] know what that does for depth when a horse is going up. So I had a lot to learn and the design of it, but I really leaned on [the course designer and builders] to advise me.”

But you didn’t come here to hear me wax poetic. What about the eventing?

The Stories

It takes a village, as demonstrated by Jess Somerfield. Photo by Atalya Boytner.

The make-up of the 2025 Adelaide CCI5* field is one that makes us remember why eventing is so special.

Every rider (based on FEI records) has brought their own horse up the levels themselves. All of them have been partnered with their rides for 3 or more years with most of them together as combinations since 2017. The horses are Thoroughbreds and homebreds, with a dash of warmblood here and there. There are amateurs competing alongside professionals and Olympians. Young blood and veterans are having a go of the highest level of sport.

It’s human.

While the Kentucky’s, Badminton’s, Luhmühlen’s, and all the elite levels of sport with their pomp and splendor are undeniably exciting, here I find myself reconnecting to that old excitement: this sport is for everyone and while it’s never easy and often requires every part of yourself, the doors to glory are open if only you have the grit and gumption to get to them.

It was a competition for the homebreds, the Thoroughbreds, and the rookies. 

David Middleton and WEC In the Money. Photo by Atalya Boytner.

David Middleton brought not one but two homebreds in WEC In the Money and WEC In the Breeze to contest the competition. Sophia Hill and her off-track Thoroughbred Humble Glory have traveled overseas and invested in their education to come back home better than ever. Amateur Joel Funnell came solo with his mount Airbrushed and did everything himself. Shane Rose, stalwart Australian team member and three-time Olympian, brought two off-track Thoroughbreds he acquired from a truckload to contest their first 5* after breaking his pelvis and femur in a fall early in 2024.

Ninth place finisher Yona Lloyd fulfilled a dream at his third attempt at the level and his horse’s first. A clear cross country round the day before with time added and two rails down on a day when they were flying meant he secured a top 10 on an unassuming little bay with a heart of gold. Bred by a friend and owned by Lloyd and close friends, Ballahowe Ayurvedic or ‘Wiz’ has been with Yona almost his entire life.

“You look at him, and he doesn’t look like a high-level horse. But when he’s out and going, he’s just got amazing scope and feels like he could jump whatever I stick him at,” Yona said. “We came here with the aim of finishing and having a really positive weekend for him, just for him to grow. I felt like that’s what happened. He’s been here the last two years in the CCI4*-S and CCI3*-L. Each year, [he’s] just progressing along and getting more comfortable. We struggle to get this environment in Australia. Yeah no, so stoked! He’s such a giving horse. I couldn’t ask for more.

Jess Somerfield and Finch Farm Carpenteria. Photo by Atalya Boytner.

Fourth place went to 5* rookie Jess Somerfield who brought a Queensland-bred horse in Finch Farm Carpentaria to contest her and the horse’s first 5* in a story that feels like a fairy tale. 

“He’s nothing short of quirky,” Jess describes ‘Finchy’, who was put on her radar by a former coach willing to sell her the horse for $1. “He’s so careful [and horse shy]. We had so many ditch problems and water jumps starting up. Then all of a sudden, this horse has just been everything and risen through the levels. I had a goal of going five-star this year, and I had an accident off my other horse and broke my collar bone.” Jess went on to the CCI4*-L at Werribee in June, but aggravated a fracture in her shoulder that had gone unnoticed before, making her arrival here at Adelaide all the more special. “You dream your whole life to do this. There’s no other horse that I would want to be on that last two minutes of cross country. I know that I’ve got his heart, and he’s got mine, and he’ll look after me. I just have every inch of trust in him through this journey.”

As the incredible speaker and leadership thinker Simon Sinek says: “We have to dream. How else will we make a future that does not yet exist?” 

For Jess and the team behind Finchy, that rings true. All their blood, sweat, and tears culminated in her best birthday present ever: a clear 5* cross country course with only time added to move her into the top five. 

The Competition

Shane Rose and The Bandit. Photo by Atalya Boytner.

That final day of competition felt a bit surreal for me too.

Walking into the park, listening to the bird calls in the wind in the trees – actually a very different sound than the wind in the trees in U.S., the old song came to mind: kookaburra sits in the old gumtree, merry merry king of the bush is he. The corellas loudly proclaim their territory, little noisy miners flit here and there, and indeed a couple kookaburras stare me down as I go by. It feels weirdly full circle though I’ve never had anything to do with Australia before in my life.

The whole media centre says hello to me as I walk in. Each person has been enormously helpful. My experience with 5* events in North America, whether eventing or show jumping, has always been about rules and all the things we as media representatives cannot do. Adelaide is much gentler and the freedom left me turning to those more knowledgeable about appropriate decisions (having permission to cross galloping lanes during cross country gave me a secret thrill every time. If you’ve ever worked the Kentucky or Maryland events and stressed about crossing points, you’ll know how much of a help this was). No matter how silly my questions must’ve seemed, the grace and kindness extended towards me was truly humbling. From remote camera placements to getting quotes from riders to jokingly bemoaning the fact that course designers never think of photographers, no level of support proved too big or too small. 

Just like the dressage and cross country, show jumping had its due influence on the competition. No one went double clear though heartbreakingly close was Sophia Hill who unfortunately went off course three fences from the finish and thus were eliminated. 

Hazel Shannon’s support team celebrates a big win. Photo by Atalya Boytner.

When the leader after cross country, Shane Rose and The Bandit, had three rails down, it was Hazel Shannon and the off-track Thoroughbred WillingaPark Clifford for the win. They set a new record as the only combination to win the Adelaide CCI5* four times. This puts their names alongside the likes of Oliver Townend (GBR) and Ballaghmor Class and Michael Jung (GER) and La Biosthetique Sam in the history books as one of the few combinations to win a 5* three times or more together. 

At 19 years old (20 in Thoroughbred years), there’s no doubt there were questions about ‘Clifford’ running a competition of this intensity. The distance, effort, and stamina need no explanation on how challenging and difficult they prove to be for horses of every age and experience. It wasn’t initially in Hazel’s plans to aim for a 5*, but after a good winter season and a strong, fit horse, she put in her entry and made the trek from Hunter Valley near Sydney to Adelaide. 

Clifford showed everyone, including Hazel, that he is not interested in slowing down and you can keep your doubts to yourself, thank you very much. He scored a 30.2 in the dressage, added 11.6 time penalties on cross country, and one rail down in the show jumping to prove himself the best of the lot and take home to the win. 

“I mean, 19 surely. How much longer can they go for?” Hazel laughed. “But I’ve been saying that for years. Clifford is just a mountain; he’s a bit of a freak and an outright, five-star horse. I do everything I can [for him]. I am really watchful about how much work I do and what surfaces I ride on. But he’s just an incredible horse. Some of them are born really tough, and he is definitely one of the toughest out there. I had probably a 1/10th of a say out on cross country but I’m really happy with how he’s gone.”

Hazel Shannon and WillingaPark Clifford. Photo by Atalya Boytner.

When asked if he was coming back next year, Hazel jokingly said, “I’ve been saying no for the last three years so surely not but it’s up to Clifford.”

Truly he was not one bit out of step. Ears pricked, coat shiny, and not a hair out of place after the show jumping, he looked ready to tackle another cross country course. 

Adelaide stole my heart and if you’re not careful, it will steal yours too. The glory of this event isn’t in the fancy horses or the pageantry or even the venue itself but in the long, slow, gritty, and determined work of dreams being quietly realized. 

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve been promised wild koalas and kangaroos so don’t mind if I see myself out!

Adelaide Equestrian Festival CCI5*: [Website] [Live Stream Replays] [Scores]

Breeding Spotlight: Arden Sport Horses

By on Feb 13, 2025 9:30 am -

Anita Antenucci with Vivace as a foal.

For Anita Antenucci, breeding has always been a life-long dream.

Born in Kentucky, she grew up surrounded by miles of Thoroughbred farms. Her family home shared a fence line with the foals and mares of a breeding operation as she played in the backyard.“ I took riding lessons, first with Saddlebreds and then eventing. I loved being around the sport, but never had my own horses, never had a farm. My family [wasn’t] horsey.”

It was in her thirties that she began riding more consistently herself, focusing first on finishing graduate school and then investment banking in the aerospace, defense, and government sectors of Washington D.C.. She bought her first horse in 2004.

Anita calls Sharon White, her long-time friend and then trainer, her enabler in making that balance shift towards horses.

“Horses finally became a realistic hobby,” she laughs. “I actually met her to sell a horse I had acquired and [then] started riding with her. It just was something I came back to.”

The Thoroughbreds she had seen as a child remained on her mind as she got to know Sharon further and watched her success with those high blood partners. Anita believed, and continues to believe, that the American Thoroughbred could be a valuable asset to the sport of eventing.

Sharon White and Arden Augustus. Photo by Sally Spickard.

After basing with Sharon for 20 years, the opportunity came in 2009 to have her own farm. Her slice of heaven in Upperville, VA, named Arden, became the vehicle to start her breeding dreams.

Watching Sharon with horses such as The King’s Spirit and also the former Kim Severson ride, He’s Got Rhythm, whom she purchased for herself to ride, continued to remind her of the strengths of the American Thoroughbred.

“I just thought, well, there’s an opportunity to see what we can do with these just incredible thoroughbred bloodlines that we have access to,” she remarked.

Calling together the community she had built over the years, Anita asked her collaborators to keep eyes out for Thoroughbred broodmares who they thought could be successful in eventing. Eventers Kristin Bachman, Jan Byyny, and Kim Severson and racing industry professionals such as Susan Runco and Linda Zhang along with Sharon formed the basis of her sounding board, making suggestions and connections to help Anita in her new endeavor.

Once she had managed to find the broodmares, the easiest way to begin was to import from Europe the frozen semen of proven stallions. “I say the easiest way, because the commercial value of those stallions is a little bit of an insurance policy to a new breeder like myself, that they’ll be commercially desirable,” Anita explained. “Somebody will say, I want to have a Jaguar Mail, or a Contendro. It’s not because the stallions are necessarily better, but there is this huge industry over there that makes it worthwhile for the breeders to keep promising stallions intact and there is less of that here.”

Melissa Baumann (with her sister Jessie who accompanies her to shows periodically!) and Arden Calliope.

Her first crop of foals landed on the ground in 2015 thanks to the enormous team efforts behind her. From there, it’s been a labor of love, with 2024 making the Arden horses visible on a national map.

“It [has] snowballed from an idea, a knowledge that I needed some serious professional experience at my side, and a real joy of doing it.” Anita still retains a full time job and trusts the operations of the farm to a team that has been built up over the years. Deanna Vaugh had been in charge of the first crops, assisted by Ivan and Julia Espada came along and eventually took on increasing responsibility with the broodmares and foals upon Deanna’s retirement. Ivan additionally starts the three year olds under saddle. When they are four, Melissa Baumann, supported by Sharon White, Tim Bourke and Kim Severson, rides them until either they are sold or Sharon herself takes over. “I realize not everybody has a team like that that can support their breeding desires. But I do think in the bigger community, there’s a bunch of people that are anxious to support this going on and willing to help.”

Indeed, besides the help of her personal network, Sharon Graham White, a judge in the Young Event Horse program, generously gave her time to Anita when she first bought the farm to help her set it up for success. Maya Black encouraged Anita to closely examine her feeding program, resulting in better health outcomes for the horses.

Arden Augustus showing us what he is made of as a foal.

The fruits of the community’s labor are now being seen in the success of the Arden horses. In 2024 alone, Arden JuJu won the CCI3*-S with Kim Severson at Chattahoochee Hills at his first attempt at the level. Arden Augustus won the CCI2*-L at Virigina Horse Center with Sharon in the irons. Arden Janeaway, also with Sharon, has finished top six in every competition she has attended so far. Arden Calliope and Melissa Baumann have made their FEI debut.

Having success almost 10 years down the line isn’t a concern for Anita. “All breeding is a bit of a numbers game, so you have to have the ability to breed a bunch of them. Sometimes it does take a few foals before you realize that the mare, or the stallion, isn’t producing what you want. It’s just a fact that a lifetime may not be long enough to explore all this!”

While the FEI results are a lovely bonus, it has also never been about the top of the sport for the breeding program at Arden. “Not really sure I know what it takes to do that, but I feel I can figure out what it takes to breed the kind of horse that I would like as an amateur; [one] that’s nice, that’s valuable, that’s got a good head, that’s got the blood for the sport that makes them forward and love to do it. So that’s really my goal. When I say I have 10 out competing, and four of them are so far doing it with amateurs, that really was the goal.”

Arden Juliet as a foal.

Emphasis on breeding sound and physically capable horses with an eye to the slow and careful education to give them opportunities for success, Anita believes they will go on to do great things. Whether those great things are FEI wins or safe cross country rounds at the lower levels, as long as the horses are happy, she is happy. And the team behind the work is what makes those successes possible.

“There’s so many people that are a part of this puzzle,” she concluded. “From people that work at the farm to the riders, to the people that have been cheering us on with knowledge. Breeding horses is a lot like making wine, right? You don’t just plant the vines and all of a sudden you’re selling wine. You plant the vines, you wait for them to mature, and then you make your first wine. You put it aside, and it ages, and then you see what you have so you make your next crop of wine differently. It is definitely a lifelong learning, and along the way, you learn all the things that you didn’t know.”

Breeding Spotlight: Preci Spark Sport Horses

By on Nov 26, 2024 9:00 am -

Lucienne Bellissimo and Tremanton. Photo by Shannon Brinkman Photography.

Sarah Cohen’s Treason and Trebetherick, Katie Taliana’s Trevalgar II, Oliver Townend’s Tregilder, Izzy Taylor’s Trevidden, Lucienne Bellisimo’s Tremanton, and Katie MaGee’s Treworra. You could be forgiven for thinking these horses have nothing in common, despite having awfully similar names. They contain none of those signals we have come to expect from breeders and sourcers with suffixes or prefixes denoting their origin. However, from Nation’s Cups to Young Riders to CCI5* competitions, these British Sport horses with their subtle and incorporated “Tre” consistently appear in entry lists and records globally.

They come from Preci-Spark Event Horses, a stud whose goal is to produce equine partners capable of the highest levels of eventing. Started by Vincent “Vin” Jones, his father Ralph, and his wife Liz, Preci-Spark gets its name from the family aerospace engineering business. The “Tre” nods to their Cornish roots, both personally as past residents and professionally with a manufacturing factory located in Cornwall. In the Cornish language, “tre” means village and each horse bred at Preci-Spark is named after a Cornish place.

By Tre, Pol, and Pen,
You shall know the Cornishmen.

So goes the adage coined in the 1609 Survey of Cornwall, written by Richard Carew.

Vin himself rode to the CCI5* level, then 4*, as an amateur, receiving the Armada Plate in 1982 alongside Captain Mark Phillips and Diana Clapham for over five completions at Badminton. When he hung his hat up from riding due to injury, he thought the time had come to give breeding a go.

“It was probably the most expensive thing I ever did!” He remarked about the beginning of it all. He was encouraged by Sam Barr, founder of the famous Welton Stud and produced horses that were European Champions and CCI5* winners in their own rights. Barr’s legacy continues in Welton Double Cracker, now based at West Kington Stud and fathered over 60 progeny.

Vin purchased broodmares he felt would start a program of CCI5* event horses. Of those, three successfully went on to complete the level and one was a 2004 Athens Olympics selected mount.

“I was always told you put the best to the best to produce the best, so that’s what we tried to do.”

Hand In Glove. Photo courtesy of John Charlebois.

With those first mares, he bred to Barr’s first stallion, Welton Cracker Jack, and to an American Thoroughbred standing at the French stud, Haras de Brullemail. That Thoroughbred was Hand In Glove, a successful Californian show jumper with John Charlebois before moving to France. He is most famously the sire of the Olympic show jumping stallion, Jaguar Mail, who had five offspring competing at the 2022 FEI World Championships of Eventing at Pratoni del Vivaro (Vassily de Lassos, Colorado Blue, Box Leo, Joy Stick, and Ferreolus Lat).

“We adopted the principle of trying to use mares with a lot of blood,” Vin explained. Each of those first mares, and many of their current ones, were full or around ⅞ Thoroughbred. “We always felt that you wanted the Thoroughbred blood in the mare more than anything else. That goes back a bit to the old Irish Sport Horse, which was a Thoroughbred mare, covered by an Irish stallion. That, of course, over the years, was hugely successful [but then they] introduced a lot of Warmbloods, which really wasn’t so successful.”

Trebetherick and Treason were the first success stories, ridden by GBR’s Sarah Cohen who at the time was stable jockey for Preci-Spark. Trebetherick and Cohen showed proof of concept when they completed Badminton 5* together in 2010 and Treason followed his stablemate a little later. From the beginning, Cohen was Treason’s rider, taking him from his first backing all the way to multiple CCI5*s, resulting in Nation’s Cup appearances, long-listing for the London 2012 Olympics, and excellent results in the now defunct Event Rider Masters series.

After 17 years with Preci-Spark, Cohen and the Jones parted ways in 2014 where Samantha Hobbs took over. In a full circle moment, Emily Grace, granddaughter to Vin Jones, started under Sam five years ago and now works as manager and stable jockey for the stud.

“It was definitely in the back of my mind,” she said about joining the family breeding operation, now based in Lowesby in Leicestershire. “But I went off to do a business degree. I came for the summer to help Sam, and then never left!”

Oliver Townend and Tregilder. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

The stud today has around 20 horses on site with exciting prospects among them. Watching her grandfather over the years and working with the horses herself, Emily agrees that the mare is the key to their breeding success.

“We’ve realized over time how important the mare is. We’ve got horses that are all by the same mare and a different stallion, but they’re so similar in their behavior and in their jump.”

It hasn’t been smooth sailing the whole time though.

“My wife and I love horses. We love producing young horses, and it’s exciting,” Vin remarked. “[But] it can be terribly depressing when things go wrong, which they inevitably do.” Pasture accidents, infections, and sport injuries thwarted every effort to care for them and dashed many hopes in the history of Preci-Spark. “Young horses have got to grow up, but you’ve got to hope that they stay in one piece while they’re growing up.”

Vin’s love of the young horse surpasses just his own. In 2002, alongside current British Eventing president Jane Holderness-Roddam, breeder Patrick Rolfe, and the late Sam Barr, he co-founded the BE Breeding committee. Responsible for the creation of the BE Breeding Championships, this is now what we know as the Young Event Horse Championships, held at Cornbury International Horse Trials to spot future talents.

Sarah Cohen and Treason. Photo courtesy of Event Rider Masters.

For the Preci-Spark stud, Tregilder is perhaps the most globally well-known. The 14-year-old gelding is now retired from upper level eventing but at the peak of his career, ridden by World Top 10 athlete GBR’s Oliver Townend, he finished top 10 twice and podiumed once at CCI5*. Tremanton, ridden by US-based GBR rider Lucienne Bellisimo, has enjoyed multiple top 10 finishes at the CCI4* level over the last two years with future hopes for a CCI5* and most recently, Treworra, ridden by GBR’s Katie MaGee, finished 13th at the Pau CCI5* in 2024.

Both Vin and Emily feel the reason for the success of their horses at the highest levels is the way they have prioritized keeping the percentage of blood high.

“They take a little bit more time to develop,” Emily added. “Sometimes they go under the radar a bit until they’re nine or ten and they’re usually quite big horses. [But] they pull through when you’re at your five stars because of the blood in them, and they seem to be quite hardy. I think that’s what really shines.”

Vin’s goal with the stud has been accomplished and now they have proudly produced six 5* mounts: Tregilder, Trevidden, Trevalgar II, Treason, Trebetherick, and Treworra.

Horses rarely go according to plan but the future of the stud is promising.

Trefoil, currently going CCI3* with Richard Jones, is particularly close to their hearts. Out of Cevin Z, a stallion standing at the prominent Billy stud, and an embryo transfer daughter of The Wexford Lady, his dame line’s grandsire is Treason’s full brother, Treffry. Along with Tremanton, hopes for a 5* completion remain high.

Some hopes, however, are closer to home.

“I want to go and compete at five star on a Preci Spark homebred horse!” Emily laughs. She has three young horses in Trewindle, Trevanion, and Trenchant competing in the 4- and 5-Year-Old Young Event Horse series that might fit the bill one day.

Where Are They Now: Chico’s Man VDF Thrives in a New Chapter

By on Nov 14, 2024 12:30 pm -

Lexi Scovil and Chico’s Man VDF Z. Photo by Shelby Allen.

When Leslie Law, U.S. Development and Emerging Coach, tells you this is the horse for you, you listen.

Lexi Scovil did just that when Law found Chico’s Man VDF Z on a trip to Europe in 2017.

“I was working for Leslie at the time, and I had just sold my previous three-star horse,” she said. “He found Sprout [who] didn’t work for his other client, but he said, I think this is the horse for you. So I actually never even tried him. I bought him off the videos and Leslie’s recommendation.”

It wasn’t a match made in heaven from the get-go but Lexi found that it was absolutely the horse for her. She and Sprout formed a true partnership as they worked out each other’s edges.

“When push came to shove, he was always there for me. He’d give it a try if he could [but] if I put him in a position that was wrong, he’d say, nope, let’s not do that. Sometimes a horse that is not jumping through fire is actually what you need to give you confidence. He [was] going to take care of me. He’ll jump if it’s the right place and he’s not gonna jump if he thinks [that’s] gonna get us in trouble.”

Over the next five years, Lexi and Sprout worked their way up the levels all the way to the top where they completed the Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event in 2022 with one stop on the cross country and some time added to a rail and time in the show jumping.

Lexi Scovil and Chico’s Man VDF Z. Photo by Tilly Berendt.

“To me, it was hugely exciting just to start. So, I put absolutely no pressure on the result. I didn’t care if he had a few stops or if he didn’t make the time. I think that it went so well because we both were going in to try to have a good jump around.”

After stepping back to do some lower levels to get the confidence going again after Kentucky, she aimed their partnership at the Maryland 5* in 2023. But from the first combination on course, she felt Sprout’s heart wasn’t in it. About halfway around the course, as he got more and more backed off by the speed, the questions, and the experience, she put her hand up to retire.

“It’s not fair to him to ask him to do something he’s not enjoying. He’s a very kind, genuine horse. It was at the point that I could run around Intermediate with one hand behind my back, eyes closed. We knew each other so well. Every time he went out of the start box at Intermediate, he was having a blast. But every time I went to be competitive at a four star, he was like, oh, I don’t know, this isn’t as much fun.”

Lexi ultimately came to the conclusion that Sprout didn’t share her goals for elite level eventing and finding him a rider more aligned with his strengths would be the best way to move forward.

Out to dinner with good friend Sara Kelson, head groom for 5* eventer and trainer Sara Kozumplik, she mentioned she was looking for a lease situation for Sprout.

“[Sara Kelson] sent a couple texts, and all of a sudden, Sara Kozumplik and Kelsey Seidel were at my door.”

Kelsey, a 2023-2024 USEA EA21 National Camp selected athlete, was looking for an upper level mount to teach her the ropes as her own mounts either rehabbed from surgery or learned the levels along with her.

“I actually was stabled across from Lexi at the [2024] spring Tryon FEI,” Kelsey commented. “I was picking her brain about [going overseas] and jokingly had been like, well, if you ever decide that Sprout doesn’t want to do this, I love him.”

When Sara Kelson texted about Lexi looking for Sprout’s new rider, Kelsey couldn’t have been more ready.

“We flew down to Ocala that next week and drove straight from the airport to the farm in riding clothes and everything. I hopped on and jumped him around a few fences. There’s a couple really fun videos of me where I’m just laughing and smiling the whole time, because I was just having the time of my life.”

It was pretty clear to everyone watching that Sprout and Kelsey were going to get on very well.

Kelsey Seidel and “Sprout” pick up a win in the U25 CCI1* at Maryland earlier this summer. Photo by Sara Kozumplik.

“You always have a little bit of nerves because he’s been my horse for seven years at that point, and I had done almost all of the riding on him. Very rarely did anybody else get on him,” Lexi recalled of that first ride. “Sara [Kozumplik] knew the horse a bit and I know her a little bit. She’s seen him go around for a few years and she thought it would be a good horse for Kelsey. They clicked from the beginning. Obviously there’s a little bit of a learning curve on both Sprout and Kelsey end’s, learning a different partner. But as soon as she jumped a couple jumps, I knew it was just right.”

Kelsey stepped back to Training level when Sprout first joined her. Lexi and Sara Kozumplik both stressed to her not to be hard on herself as she and Sprout learned each other’s ins and outs.

“I remember getting back from going back to my trailer [after the first] cross country, and Sara asked how was it? What is he like on course? I was like, if that’s how cross country is supposed to feel like, I’ve been doing it wrong, because that was the most fun I’ve ever had.”

Not everything went according to plan though. Moving up through the levels, Kelsey and Sprout parted ways at their first Prelim together.

“It was literally just a silly mistake trying to ride him like he was my other horse, and he reminded me that he’s, in fact, not. He rewards correct riding. It’s really forced me to think positively in all phases,” she laughingly recalled.

A win at the CCI1*-S and a confident Prelim round later, the pair proceeded to win their first CCI2*-S together at Bouckaert International in October and at the time of writing, are aimed at their first CCI2*-L at TerraNova.

Enjoying the spoils of success!

“It’s really been rewarding to see him go out and do exactly what I knew he would, which is to give her confidence and be pretty competitive at the same time,” Lexi remarked. “It’s so great to watch videos of the two of them together with his ears glued forward, and he’s looking like he’s having a great time.”

For Kelsey, the future is exciting. “We got him with the goal of CCI3* Young Riders next year. Of course, horses, not riders, move their timeline, but to have a win at the one star and now the two star level within the first six months of riding him feels like we’re moving in the correct direction.”

The word Bromont has even been thrown around a couple of times between Kelsey and Sara. “That’s a big track and a big ask, but it would be very exciting!” she said.

When asked how she feels about the decision to let Sprout out to a new rider, Lexi said: “It was a very easy decision for me to make, mostly because the horse was going to an excellent program. Everybody asks me if I’ve been sad to have him gone. Quite literally, in the five months he’s been gone, I think I’ve felt regret or sadness for maybe a minute total. I’m so proud of him and so happy for him. I’ve got all these people looking out for him, for me, and I know he is loved, appreciated, and cared for. That just makes it an easy decision. I’ve not second guessed it once. I know it’s the perfect place for him to be.”

Breeding Spotlight: The Story Behind the SE Moniker

By on Sep 25, 2024 9:30 am -

Rose Sullivan and Clair de Lune SE. Photo Courtesy of Rose Sullivan.

Dedicated eventing breeders are a rare breed when compared to their hunter jumper and dressage counterparts. Finding a U.S. event horse breeder is a bit like hunting for a needle in the haystack: they exist, but sometimes they are not easy to find.

However, over the last twenty years, one such breeder has made a name for herself on the West Coast especially.

Rose Sullivan of SE Farm in Newburg, OR was born in Buenos Aires where she lived until she was six years old. When her father, a physician, received a teaching and research position at the University of Miami, the whole family moved to Florida. The horse bug was very present in Rose and blessed with understanding parents, she received riding lessons as she grew up.

“I took lessons and I rode and loved horses. But my mother wouldn’t let have my own horse,” she says of her childhood. “I always thought, Well, when I grow up, I’m gonna have horses.”

It wasn’t until Rose had daughters of her own that she started thinking about breeding.

“Both of my daughters were in the equestrian world, and as they got older, they needed horses that would do the upper levels,” Rose explained. “So I thought, well, those horses were pretty expensive to buy, so I figured, let me do some research.”

That research led her to oocytes. An oocyte is an unfertilized egg taken from a desirable mare which is then injected with sperm. Once the oocyte has become an embryo, it is then transferred to the recipient embryo transfer mare.

Rose found a lucky combination: an ooctye from a high end mare in Europe and sperm from Contender, a prolific and successful sire for sport horse bloodlines.

This lucky ooctye became two foals: the mare USA SE and the stallion Clair de Lune SE. Clair de Lune would form the basis of Rose’s breeding operation.

“When you breed a horse, you can always look at them when they’re about three weeks old, and that’s how they’re going to look. That confirmation [is what] they’re going to have when they’re fully grown. It’s three weeks, three months, and three years. So when he was three weeks old, I knew that I had bred a really, really nice horse. He was just beautiful. His confirmation was perfect. His movement was beautiful.”

Early fame for Clair de Lune SE!

Boudewijn Schepers, a friend of Rose’s and the head of the BWP, the Belgian Warmblood Breeding Association (Belgisch Warmbloedpaard in Belgian), recommended that she freeze his semen while he was young and campaign him as a performance horse for he also saw the potential in the young colt.

“I had him provisionally approved [by BWP], which they do when the stallions are young and they still don’t have a show record. It’s called provisional breeding. So he has to do a certain amount of performance every year. I listened to [Boudewijn] because he’s a horse expert, especially with stallions, and I froze 600 frozen straws, which was a big investment at the time.” Rose connected with Robyn Fisher, a Southern California FEI rider and now FEI judge, and Robyn took on the ride.

The partnership competed at the West Coast USEA Five Year Old Young Event Horse Finals in 2009 where he scored an 83.90% and the win. From there, Clair de Lune went from strength to strength, competing and winning to the now-2* level with Robyn. After a small break, he returned to eventing with Marilyn Little before moving to Grand Prix Show Jumping with Rich Fellers.

When he was 15, Rose brought Clair de Lune home to focus on his breeding career.

Erin Kanara and Morning Glory SE. Photo by Amy Dragoo.

While he had been competing, Boudewijn’s advice and Rose’s foresight meant the breedings had already been happening during the height of his performance career, including to Rose’s own mares. “That way I would have something to show because when people breed to a horse, they want to breathe to a horse that has successful offspring.”

In 2012, four horses were born at SE Farm and have since proven they inherited the temperament, movement, and athletic abilities of their sire. Morning Glory SE partnered with professional Erin Kanara to compete and win at the 4* level on the East Coast. M Creme de la Creme SE and professional Alexis Helffrich, professional Taryn Nolte-Pearce and Mi Campion SE, professional Caitlin Davison and m-Cloudy de Lune SE all competed successfully to the 3* level.

Pearce also has Milagro SE who she has taken to the preliminary levels. Professional Joa Sigsbee and K Cosimo SE have dabbled in dressage, jumpers, and prelim eventing. West Coast high performance vet and amateur rider Leah Forquer with Oakley’s Hunt SE competes at the intermediate level and professional Mckenzie Rollins and O Gigi SE compete at the 2* level.

While quite a few amateurs have had success with the SE horses, the list of riders who are professionals and enjoy high level performances is quite high. Rose believes it first starts with Clair de Lune and then it is the positive relationships she encourages with the riders.

“I’m very proud to have bred him. I always tell everyone, he’s North American bred. He’s bred here in this country, and he is the highest scoring stallion that was bred in North America for eventing,” she said. “I like to listen to the horses about what they want to do and I have a good relationship with all my partners. I’m not in a hurry to sell and I usually let [the riders] make a decision about what they want to do with the horse. I give them a percentage of the horse and if they want to go all the way with the horse, then I’m fine with that. If they want to sell the horse, then I’m fine with that. We just have a contract that mutually agrees on what we want to do.”

Caitlin Davison and Cloudy de Lune SE. Photo by MGO Photography.

Good programs and good riders make good reputations.

“That’s how I built my breeding program,” Rose remarked. “I’m focused, is what I consider myself. I wouldn’t say I’m small but I wouldn’t say I’m big either. I am very careful with the mares that I use. And I don’t do large volumes. I do two a year. I used to do a lot more, but now I’m getting older, and it’s harder to bring babies up. I like to do a good job. I like to handle my foals, to imprint them. I like them to get out and do things, because that’s why my horses do so well.”

What started as an endeavor to help her daughters has now come full circle. Her youngest daughter, Katie, is an assistant in her breeding operation.

And the future is bright for SE Farm. In another full circle moment, Rose has two Master Imp oocytes in embryo transfer and a breeding to a Calido I mare with Clair de Lune as the sire. Robyn Fisher, who helped get Clair de Lune’s start in eventing, competed Lady Calido, a daughter of Calido I.

Rose’s parting words were of advice to those looking to breed future eventers.

Rose Sullivan and Clair de Lune SE. Photo courtesy of Rose Sullivan.

“Do your research, check your bloodlines,” she said. “Pick a mare that’s the best you can find with good feet. Then make sure that you pick a stallion that complements her. Whatever she is lacking, the stallion should have. When you pick a stallion, look at his feet. Make sure he has nice, solid feet. Check his brain to make sure that he produces babies that are trainable, rideable, and willing. You can breed a beautiful horse, but if he is hard to train, you have nothing. You want a compact, light stallion with exceptional movement, with a short back, and a good neck set. You want to look at the whole picture.”

For more info on SE horses and for breeding contracts, go to https://sefarm.com/.

From Chore to Community: The Evolution of Galway Downs’ Volunteer Program

By on Mar 14, 2024 9:30 am -

There aren’t many better views! Photo by Sally Spickard.

In competitive eventing, there is one unexpected element that can keep a show from running. Officials may be in place, there could be plenty of entries, the grounds can be prepared, but without volunteers, the whole thing can come to a stand still.

In 2015, the United States Eventing Association (USEA) created the Volunteer Incentive Program in order to give nationwide recognition to the individuals who donate their time to the sport. Volunteers can log hours and rank on leaderboards for annual awards, among other ways to earn recognition. Additionally, each venue has its own ways of giving back to those who help their events come to life.

It remains a perennial struggle, however, to find and retain enough volunteers to comfortably run a full event. It’s a dilemma that leaves many an organizer scratching their head, wondering how to drum up more vital support.

One venue in sunny California has managed to find a way to keep its volunteer rosters full, time after time.

Galway Downs (Temecula, CA) plays host to many different eventing competition throughout the year, run by Robert Kellerhouse and Del Mar Eventing. From international eventing and dressage competitions to schooling shows and cross country clinics, there’s always a need for boots on the ground to help keep things rolling.

Bernie Low, Jerri Lance & Laura Jaeger, part of the Volunteer Committee at Galway Downs.

Rather than this responsibility all falling on the shoulders of one person, the “Volunteer Coordinator” at Galway Downs is a committee.

The idea stemmed from longtime Volunteer Coordinator Jerri Lance who has, over the past 20 years, come in and out of the volunteer wings at Galway. “No matter what you’re doing in the show, it takes a village,” she said. “When you have five, six, seven shows a year, you can wear your coordinators thin if you have them at every single one. So one of the things that I really wanted to do is to get a team together that would be just coordinators. This way, we may be working two or three shows a year versus five or six shows a year. It helps everyone enjoy it more without putting too much burden on any one person.”

Jerri reached out to the volunteer community Galway had built over the years in search of fellow leaders, and the coordinator team is now made up of seven members who donate their time to help: Jerri herself, Bernie Low, Laura Jaeger, Danielle Trynoski, Thamar Draper, Nancy Chamberlain, and Sue Spencer. At any given competition, three or four of these members are present.

At a dressage competition, the committee assigns scribing shifts and ensure volunteers are in place for the right times. At eventing competitions, someone manages all the dressage volunteers, someone manages show jumping, and one or two are out on cross country.

“Usually one or two people will focus on cross country because you’ve got to not only work the show but you also work prior to the show, setting up the jump assignments, trying to figure out where everyone’s going to be and what they’re going to have for the full day,” Jerri explained. “You coordinate all of the jump assignments, get those set up, and then when your volunteers start signing up, you start plugging in things to which jumps they’re going to get.”

There is an art to managing volunteers on cross country. Bernie Low has also been volunteering at Galway for over 20 years and came on as a coordinator last year when Jerri was revamping the program. Bernie often manages the volunteers on cross country with her husband.

Carol Christiansan, one of the amazing regular volunteers at Galway Downs.

“[We] really let people know what’s available, be friendly and willing to train and help,” Bernie commented. “It’s getting to know your volunteers. Really listening to them, and then trying to find things that they will enjoy.”

The smashing success of the Galway Volunteer Incentive Program means that they have begun to draw in not only riders and their families but also non-horse people with their popular e-voucher system. Depending on the amount of hours worked, volunteers can earn up to $90 a day to go towards entries or cross country schooling. But those non-riding friends also have something they can use their vouchers on.

“They can use it for Galway gear. A lot of my volunteers will go in at the end of the day and spend their money there,” Jerri said. “I have two friends that got involved last year and they come and they have a blast shopping after the show. You can use them also to get a ticket to go eat in the VIP tent if you want. So there’s a lot of different ways that [Robert Kellerhouse] is offering up for utilizing the vouchers if you earn them.”

In addition, twice a year Galway Downs hosts a volunteer-only giveaway; prizes include wine tastings (Galway is located in the heart of southern California’s wine country, after all!), golf experiences, stays at the casitas on the grounds, and gift certificates to local restaurants in town.
There are also two awards given away at the end of the year: one for the volunteer who worked the most shows and the other for the volunteer who worked the most hours. Trainers can also receive free entries by having volunteers claim their barn in order, which enters them into a drawing for entries.

“There’s [the] credits and there’s gifts and rewards but also there’s genuinely saying thank you to people, really making them feel appreciated,” Bernie Low added. “It’s so nice as a volunteer when a rider goes past you, especially some of the upper level ones, and they go ‘hey, thanks for volunteering today.’ I’ve had upper level riders, judges, and TDs say ‘thanks so much for your help today.’ It makes such a difference when the [cross country] controller is like ‘hey, guys, you’re doing a great job. Hang in there. We’ve only got one more division to go.’”

For those volunteers who only come once a year, it has been a challenge in the past to use the vouchers before they expire as hours had to be entered manually after the show’s completion due to the busy nature of the actual days of competition. But Thamar Draper, a former IT executive, helped come up with a solution.

One perk of volunteering or riding at Galway Downs: the views!

“For the volunteers who are not using the e-vouchers for show entries, they want to be able to use them before they leave on the weekend,” Thamar commented. “Say, I’ve been scribing on Saturday and I’ve been jump-judging on Sunday and now I want to buy a jacket and a hat or something, using my e-vouchers in the office. I couldn’t do that because I didn’t know how many e-vouchers I had until the following week.”

Putting her computer wizardry hat on, Thamar helped create a spreadsheet that connected the show office with the volunteer coordinators in real time. Rather than having to manually calculate voucher value from recorded hours worked, Thamar input complex formulas into the document to not only calculate the amount but also its expiration. At the event’s completion, she also automated an email send out so each volunteer would receive a detailed description of their balance and the expiration of the amount.

“Robert and everybody takes really good care of volunteers but that was just one of the holes,” she said. “It can be quite tough. You check in at 6:30 in the morning and you don’t get home until after dark so although it’s not hard work, it’s a long day. But in the summertime, they bring around popsicles and you get hot chocolate in the winter time, and sandwiches all the time. You’re just very well appreciated.”

Finding a solution to incentivizing non competing or riding members of the community and streamlining their ability to use those incentives has created a glut of volunteers for the coordinations to draw on. But also making sure the volunteers return time and again is something the team of coordinators along with the management team have capitalized on by taking care of them.

“If it’s too hard or too uncomfortable, it doesn’t really matter how motivated they were to volunteer in the first place, they are going to be discouraged from returning,” Danielle “Dani” Trynoski pointed out. “Recruitment is one thing but retention is another thing and by keeping your volunteers comfortable, that really helps with the retention piece.”

As she points out, eventing has traditionally relied on riders, rider support teams, and family members for filling the volunteer shifts. But that stream has started to slow down to the point where venues everywhere are struggling to find enough bodies.

Joan of Barks accompanies Danielle Trynoski on a volunteer shift.

“One of the perks of having a few more people on that coordinator level is that you’ve got potential for extra hands and the additional bandwidth to take in some of those outsiders from the equestrian world and help bring them in; to have somebody there to explain to them what’s going on and what they can expect.” Dani continued. “Simple things like if you assigned a high school student to be a score runner; making sure that they understand that they need to wait until a rider is finished with their test and then they’re going to go up to the judge to get the test. That is something that can be taught, but you need to make sure you have somebody that has five or ten minutes to walk them through that process.”

So if you or someone you know wants to begin volunteering but has been intimidated by knowing the rules, worry not!

“You get a firsthand visit with the TD and you know they go through all of the rules!” Lance laughs. “I know when [my daughter] Courtney was younger and I was able to go in and learn the rules a lot better by jump judging than I did reading the rulebook.”

If you are interested in volunteering at Galway Downs, or becoming a coordinator, you can contact [email protected] or (951) 303-0405 with questions about signing up! You can also always find volunteering openings near you by visiting EventingVolunteers.com.

Breeding Spotlight: Leigh-ping Forward with OTTBs

By on Feb 26, 2024 2:30 pm -

Jeff Goodwin and Exactleigh compete at Galway Downs’ Eventing Championships in 2023. Photo by Sherry Stewart.

Taking a glance at any entry list these days, there are quite a few prefixes and suffixes that we have come to know. The ever popular Irish Cooley, Ardeo, and Fernhill, the Belgian Zangersheide Z, the up-and-coming FE, Excel, HSH and Global, and even the Argentinian Solaguayre is on the rise. One could be forgiven for missing a lone “Leigh” here and there.

But not anymore.

In the 2023 edition of the annual Event at Rebecca Farm (Kalispell, MT) — one of the top destination events on the West Coast — there were more “Leigh” horses than any other breeder, trainer, or seller. There were 14 Cooley horses, 10 Fernhill, 7 Ardeo, 6 Z, 4 Excel, 3 FE, and 1 Global.

Squeaking past them all, “Leigh” horses had 15 representatives, from CCI3*-L all the way to Beginner Novice.

Humor abounds in the names of these salwart partners: Pridefulleigh, Mixologeigh, Bankseigh, My Leighona, Casualleigh, Agatha Christeigh, and my personal favorite: Drunk & Disorderleigh.

Where do they come from?

Jil Walton operates JARBA Farms out of Rebecca Farm in Kailspell, MT where she breeds and trains her own homebreds and off the track thoroughbreds. A representative of the 1992 US Olympic Eventing team, she helped USA to a top 10 finish and finished 17th individually as the highest placed American on a self made mare called Patrona.

Embed from Getty Images

Patrona herself was an off-the-tracker who Jil, in partnership with her parents, sourced in Southern California where she grew up. Walton calls her “the beginning of it all.”

“My dad, my mom, and I would pick the ones that didn’t run and turn them into event horses and event them so I’ve been doing that my whole life,” Jil said. “Then I met one of my clients, Leigh Gray. [She] brought a horse to me to event for her [while] she worked at a vet hospital and had access to lots of Thoroughbreds. So [we] started developing a relationship with trainers, and good owners, that wanted them to go on to do something other than just sit in the field.”

Most of the horses carrying the “Leigh” in their name are former racers sourced by Jil herself, and her friend Gray. But it didn’t begin that way.

Among the horses Leigh sent to Jil to be retrained and homed was Truly Triton. A 1992 chestnut gelding out of Coastal Breeze and With Approval, it began as a rehabbing project when he came to Walton with a tendon injury. Over time however, the partnership competed to the highest levels, completing the Kentucky Three-Day Event in 2004 and multiple top 10 finishes at the 4* level. As success came not only to Jil but with the horses Leigh was helping source, Jil felt a touch of inspiration.

“I decided I needed to give Leigh a little bit of credit,” she explains. “So then we started putting the Leigh on the end. I mean, it just kind of caught fire because there’s so many possibilities.”

The name options are pretty excellent (see above!). Indeed, Jil often gets messages with suggestions for Leigh names for future horses down the line.

She credits Leigh with an incredible eye for temperament and her own eye for confirmation, gleaned at her parents’ knees and her own 30+ years of experience. For soundness, she feels nothing can beat a good war horse — Thoroughbreds who have run for many years. Together, she and Leigh work in tandem to not only source successful sport horses but also to find the horse’s own passion.

“I tried to be responsible to the racehorses,” Jil says. “Some of them don’t want to jump. They don’t want to go eventing so we have one barrel racing, we have a couple that are ski-jouring.”

While Jil also breeds some of her own prospects (with the prefix JB for JARBA), her heart is firmly with the Thoroughbreds. The feeling of riding cross country on a horse with a high foundational level of fitness and forward training from their racing careers instills confidence and security. And she feels there is cause to be optimistic for the future of OTTBs in eventing.

“Before I felt like it was an uphill battle, 100%,” she says. “Thoroughbreds are getting so much more attention with the Thoroughbred Makeover and all of that. So I feel like people are more open to them now, which, for a long time, they haven’t been — so that’s rewarding to me.”

Leigh is winding down the non-profit that helped source these fine partners — the Thoroughbred Rehab Center — so there may not be a whole lot more “Leigh” horses coming through the pipeline. Jil herself is still trucking on with her part, having formed new connections and contacts in the racing industry to help retrain and rehome those horses who no longer can or want to race.

In an increasingly global sport where more and more often we see both professional and amateur members sourcing horses from outside our borders, we are seeing less and less of our own American Thoroughbred. While there is nothing wrong with finding quality wherever it may be, by casting a spotlight on our American professionals and trainers, our domestically bred horses can shine as well.

So next time you see that humor filled “Leigh” name, have a chuckle to yourself and maybe, just maybe, find your local OTTB trainer and see if you can find your next partner close to home.

Drop us a line if you know of another deserving barn, breeder, or trainer we can shine a light on!

Area VI Lifts All Boats in A Rising Tide of Change

By on May 30, 2023 9:00 am -

Photo by Tina Fitch Photography.

More than a year of debate surrounded the December 2022 announcement of Area VI’s calendar revisions (For more context from Area VI’s perspective, click here). A new process for the creation of the U.S. eventing calendar had broken ground in April of 2021, the aim of which was to bring “critical structure and overdue stability.” Additionally it would “facilitate a healthy calendar to the benefit of the U.S. Eventing athletes, their horses, stakeholders within the sport, and the U.S. Eventing Pathway as a whole,” Amber Braun, Managing Director of Eventing at USEF, explained.

The creation of three week breaks in Advanced competition came from a new policy from the USEF Strategic Task Force Committee for the new Eventing Calendar Process Proposal: “The Task Force recommends that preparation for all CCI5*-L and CCI4*-L competitions, Games, and Championships should be placed in three-week intervals leading up to the competition in order to ensure optimal preparation and welfare of the horse.”

With concerns that upper level horses were running too often, horse welfare became a top priority. On the East coast, with more than 20 venues across different Areas offering 72+ upper level competitions in one calendar year, that was possible; difficult but possible.

When word came to the Area VI Committee in late 2021, the new calendar seemed possible too. “Honestly I liked it for my upper level FEI horses initially,” said Bec Braitling, member of the Area VI Committee. “The more it went on…the realization of how deep it would impact our national calendar became apparent.”

As the 2023 Area VI calendar began to take shape, committee members realized there were two snags: The Area would have back to back horse shows in order to accommodate the breaks in upper level competition and lose a CCI3*-L in the spring.

A policy that prioritizes horse welfare and strategic planning is something to be lauded and emulated, not condemned. But for Area VI, the consequences of adhering to the new schedule and its resulting loss of international competition had the potential to challenge the health of the sport financially and its ability to hold elite level eventing.

For Bec Braitling, Christina Gray, Teresa Harcourt, and Andrea Pfieffer, members of the Area VI Committee, this meant an intervention was needed.

Bec Braitling and Caravaggio II. Photo by Ride On Photo.

The National Calendar

At first glance, it would be feasible to accommodate three week breaks by extending the California eventing season into the winter. But as Bec pointed out, “We HAVE to run on a two week schedule here, due to weather mostly. The winter is wet and the footing doesn’t allow ‘year round eventing’, the summer is DARN hot in most areas, so we cluster Feb through May and Sept through November — and it’s busy! Once you switch to three weeks, you squeeze out competitions and force some to run back to back weekends. We cannot support this schedule. There just aren’t enough entries to split.”

Mitigating the loss of FEI competition in the spring remained a serious obstacle, but the national calendar ranked higher in the concerns of the committee members and organizers of Area VI. As a whole, they decided that it was more important to keep eventing viable rather than allow any single event to fall away.

“Ram Tap was going to be severely impacted,” Andrea Pfieffer, chair of the Area VI Committee, explained. “Terry [Hilst] last year, she stepped up. She pulled that Advanced together for the Area when we really needed an Advanced at the end of the year… [Terry] did it for the area and did an amazing job.” Terry Hilst, organizer at Ram Tap Horse Park, had also loaned an enormous amount of equipment to the Horse Park at Woodside so that they could run their October horse trials after parting ways with former organizer Robert Kellerhouse. Creating direct competition between any venues was not an option for the committee.

Christina Gray, secretary to many horse shows across the U.S. including Area VI staple Twin Rivers Horse Park, commented that many of Area VI competing members are not professionals. “When we were going to put events back to back and you’re an adult amateur and you’re working or you’re a kid in school, you can’t be gone two or three days out of every week. It’s people enjoying the sport and this is their vacation that they’re taking.”

Olympic rider for Puerto Rico Lauren Billys turns and burns with Can Be Sweet. Photo by Sherry Stewart.

“In fairness to USEF, these proposals were open for comment from riders and there was little to no feedback,” Bec added.

So the work began to try communicating the gravity of the situation. “The people that could make a change jumped onboard,” Andrea said. “We were able to hit it on all sides… Bec being on the [USEF Calendar Working Group] made a huge impact, Teresa Harcourt on the Board of Governors made a big impact, and…I [talked] directly to Rob [Burk], [talked] directly to Jonathan Elliot up at Aspen because he’s on the [USEF Calendar Working Group]…it was a collective group who absolutely made the changes happen.”

Bec stressed the importance of getting involved: “One key point I want to get across is how we perceive governing bodies and how we complain about things that happen, but not many step up to take positive action. I’ve actually never been much of an ‘activist’ type and am usually guilty of being a complainer and not a doer myself! This time…I was able to sit across from Bill Maroney (USEF) himself and with the help of members of the Strategic Calendar Task Force present the facts, the struggles associated with the revised schedule and ultimately develop a solution. That’s so important going forward, we HAVE to be a part of our sport, be advocates for our sport, be INTERESTED in what’s going on and participate…Not nearly enough riders help shape the sport at the governance level, but then complain about things we don’t like. That’s why the newly established USEF Calendar Review Task Force is so important. But riders, organizers and supporters need to give feedback so those concerns can be addressed. Fill out questionnaires, respond to emails asking for feedback. Without it, we can’t change the things we don’t agree with.”

Photo by Sherry Stewart.

The International Calendar 

Twin Rivers Horse Park (Paso Robles, CA) had previously held a CCI3*-L division at their April Horse Trials. Without it, the only other option for a run prior to Rebecca Farms in July meant a 3.000 mile trek (one way) east to Tryon.

For those not well versed in upper level eventing, the absence of a spring CCI3*-L created a challenge. Horses and riders need to complete a national Advanced in addition to two CCI3*-L and one CCI4*-S or one CCI3*-L and two CCI4*-S in order to achieve qualification for a CCI4*-L. No matter which route a rider took, it would have meant either a trip to Tryon in the spring for the first and Rebecca Farms in July for the second OR taking a full year or more to achieve CCI4*-L qualification.

Area VI members are used to driving far. “If you grew up in California, you grew up in a vehicle,” Andrea pointed out. “On the West Coast, you do have to be willing to get in the truck and travel a bit. So getting in the trailer, driving 10 hours to get to Galway? To me, it’s a jaunt.” Rebecca Farms in Kalispell, MT is a 20 hour drive without stops from Galway Downs in Temecula, CA while Tryon is a full 34 hours without taking into account rest and food breaks.

So if an option existed and competitors are used to driving, why was there a problem?

Within the whole Area, just six venues offer 19 competitions, both upper and lower levels, in the calendar year. If you are willing to go farther, three venues outside Area VI in Washington and Montana offer an additional four upper level competitions. Even when taking Tryon into consideration, the proposed calendar operated under the assumption that competition plans would go perfectly.

Amber Biracial and Cinzano. Photo by Tina Fitch Photography.

“If your horse had an abscess and missed an Advanced, there’s not half a dozen in different Areas that I can drive to and go, ‘no big deal we missed this one’. I can drive to Virginia or Kentucky or Florida or Maryland,” Andrea Pfeiffer remarked, a concern echoed by Bec. “Back east, there’s a lot of Advanced events. You can pick and choose. But out here, if your horse missed one, you’re making it so these horses are essentially going to be an entire year behind where you wanted to be.” As we have learned with the recent covid pandemic, losing a year is not an ideal situation for horse or rider.

Enough time remained to make adjustments before the 2023 season was confirmed. Bec explained that, “during 2022, some of the Area VI competitions petitioned for date changes but those were denied…”

One of those denied competitions was the Twin Rivers Horse Park. As secretary for Twin Rivers, Christina Gray put together the modification request for the date change.

According to the 2023-2027 U.S. Eventing Calendar CCI4*-L, CCI4*-S, CCI3*-L, Advanced Policies and Procedures, the request needed to address four primary criteria: high performance sport impact, technical aspects (footing/stabling/management/etc), U..S Eventing team plans, and the growth of equestrian sport in the U.S. Additional criteria can include the organization’s experience, volunteer engagement, benefits for U.S. eventing, participation, local community engagement, media/sponsorship/donor opportunities, along with anything the presenter feels serves the sport’s best interest.

“It was hard..there were a lot of changes going on,” she commented. Twin Rivers had been granted Week 16 but applied for a modification to run on Week 15 instead. “We’ve run on both weekends and so we had a lot of data…which was more financially viable, which was healthier for the area, which was healthier for upper level riders trying to go to Kentucky.”

Source: Christina Gray to USEF/USEA on behalf of Twin River’s bid for modification. In 2013, the spring event moved from Week 16 to Week 15 where it has been placed in the calendar since.

Based on Twin Rivers’ data, Christina could confidently quantify the effect on high performance eventing. “[Week 15 was] drastically more used for people going to Kentucky…when they [Kentucky and Twin Rivers] are back to back weekends, that doesn’t allow for the travel that it takes because if you’re driving your own horses, it’s three day drive, and then if you’re flying your horse, you can only fly on certain days. So a lot of times you have to get a flight the week before.” As she pointed out, “that’s a bit much for horses to fly on Tuesday and jog on Wednesday.”

But it’s not just those horses aimed at Kentucky that were affected by the policy change. “Our upper level events have to have support of the lower level events to survive,” Christina said. “We’re not getting the divisions of forty or fifty at the 4* or 3* level. We’ll run an FEI event and it might have 45 entries total between all the divisions so it really takes having 350 national entries to help fund those FEI levels. And I think people don’t necessarily know that’s how it balances on the West Coast.”

Even if one venue could get an exemption from the three week policy, having events on back to back weekends competing for entries challenged any ability to hold upper level sport at all.

When Christina and Twin Rivers initially presented their desire for the modification to run on Week 15 instead of 16, the response from the governing bodies endorsed a trial year. But “on the West Coast, we can barely fill two [shows] every other weekend,” Christina went on. “That’s with support at the upper levels from all over the west. It’s not just California. You’ve got people coming from Washington, you have Canadians coming down to really fill those divisions. If you’re looking at an event making enough money to continue to run, we can’t afford to lose anything else.”

Photo by Tina Fitch Photography.

The Solution

“It was no easy feat and it really was a team of individuals. It wasn’t one person who carried the load,” Andrea recalled.

After many ears bent, letters of support written, and emails sent, the committee members managed to convey the gravity of the situation to the Eventing Strategic Calendar Task Force. The goal of this appointed group is, Amber Braun describes, “to carefully review the strategic calendar and address any deficiencies as well as consult on the future process.” The Task Force passed it on to the Eventing Sport Committee. Those modifications were then recommended to an Ad Hoc of the Board of Directors.

On January 23, 2023, the press release that accompanied the announcement of the new and approved calendar wrote: “Due to hardships demonstrated for qualification under the current structure and criteria, and to limit the travel to achieve those qualifications in the interest of horse welfare, the following modifications were approved to offer the best preparation for high-performance athletes and horses.”

That one sentence encompasses the work and effort of so many people across so much time. From Area VI committee members to USEF and USEA representatives, from elite athletes to show organizers, it shows what happens when we do the work to engage honestly with each other and to communicate across difficulties even when everyone comes with the best of intentions. However, Bec Braitling, Christina Gray, Teresa Harcourt, and Andrea Pfieffer led the charge for Area VI by doing the work to help resolve the challenges posed by new strategic policies.

In the words of Andrea Pfieffer: “The calendar, as it stands right now, is absolutely, completely workable…If we had another venue in California, that would be really fantastic. But that doesn’t happen overnight — that’s not going to be in 2024 — that’s a big undertaking to find a location…That’s my big dream. but as it stands right now, we have a very healthy calendar..I think Bec said, ‘we might be small but we are mighty.’”